Judge blocks Citigroup-SEC settlement November 28, 2011 A US FEDERAL judge angrily blocked Citigroup’s proposed $285m (£184m) settlement over the sale of toxic mortgage debt, rebuking the top US market regulator over how it reaches corporate fraud settlements. District Judge Jed Rakoff said the US Securities and Exchange Commission appeared uninterested in actually learning what Citigroup did wrong, and erred by asking [...]
UK’s million pound home sales surge May 2, 2011 SALES of properties worth over £1m have shot up at the fastest rate in four years, research by Lloyds TSB showed yesterday. Million pound house sales numbered 7,185 last year, up 54 per cent from 2009. “This is the largest annual increase since 2006 and suggests a real resurgence at the very top end of [...]
UK’s million pound home sales surge May 2, 2011 SALES of properties worth over £1m have shot up at the fastest rate in four years, research by Lloyds TSB showed yesterday. Million pound house sales numbered 7,185 last year, up 54 per cent from 2009. “This is the largest annual increase since 2006 and suggests a real resurgence at the very top end of [...]
Permira sell-off sparks Hugo Boss stock slump November 14, 2011 SHARES in Hugo Boss dived yesterday after Permira’s decision to cash in some of its shares sparked fears the private equity group would offload the rest of its stake in the German fashion house. Hugo Boss closed down 6.36 per cent at €67.98 after holding company The Red & Black, controlled by Permira, said it [...]
KKR and Japanese firm Itochu link for $7bn Samson bid November 22, 2011 KKR, the global investment firm, has joined forces with Japanese trading house Itochu in a $7bn (£4.5bn) bid for US oil and gas group Samson Investment. KKR has been in exclusive talks to buy privately held Samson for weeks, two people familiar with the matter said. The involvement of Itochu is a new twist, underscoring [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 20, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BP, TOTAL AND STATOIL SECURE ANGOLA RIGHTS A new exploration frontier off the coast of Angola that may be similar to oil fields found in Brazil is to be opened after the government of the African country awarded drilling rights to some of the world’s largest energy groups. Britain’s BP, Total of France [...]
Outsourcer Mitie sees healthy sales pipeline November 21, 2011 Outsourcing group Mitie has posted a small profit rise and said a significant bid pipeline leaves it confident of further growth, as governments and businesses seeking to cut costs sign up for its support services. Mitie, whose customers include Tesco and London’s Royal Opera House, said its pre-tax profit before one-off items for the six [...]
The millionaire towns in capital commuter belt September 18, 2011 HALF of the houses on the market in commuter town Beaconsfield, Bucks, are valued at over £1m, a survey out today from primelocation.com reveals. At 47 per cent, the town has the highest proportion of seven-figure homes in the country. Indeed, the top fifteen towns with the highest percentage of million pound houses are all [...]
Newspapers prove drag on DMGT profits November 23, 2011 DMGT, the owner of the Daily Mail, posted a drop in full year profits yesterday, after a strong performance from its events arm failed to offset falling revenues and higher costs in its newspaper divisions. Revenues at Associated Newspapers, the division which publishes the Daily Mail and the Metro, were flat on an underlying basis [...]
IRELAND AUCTIONS BUST TYCOON’S ART TO PAY OFF SUB-PRIME DEBTS November 17, 2011 DEREK Quinlan is not a name you will have read much about recently, after the troubled property tycoon decided to lie low on the shores of Lake Geneva while he contemplated his sizeable debts to Anglo Irish Bank. But he was back in the spotlight yesterday, when Quinlan’s $2.8m art collection came under the hammer [...]